Central Rand Golelectrostatic separator ore beneficiationd had returned to basics and was taking baby steps in stabilising production to restore credibility in the company after a tough couple of years and ahead of raising capital, CEO Johan du Toit said on Friday.

Central Rand’s plan is to revisit old mining areas south of Johannesburg to exploit reefs left behind after nearly a century of mining. It ran into problems with extravagant production forecasts that it never came close to meeting and a mining method that simply did not work. At its CMR West project in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, Central Rand has reverted to conventional mining to extract the main reef left behind by earlier miners because the grade — relative to the main reef leader that was then being exploited — was too low. At current gold prices and modern mining methods these ore bodies are economically viable. The term main reef leader refers to an ore body mined originally. The earlier miners were so spoilt for choice that they used lower grade reefs to...